FAQ Agrofood

a) I want to exercise organic farming, what steps do I need to take?/ what are the steps I need to take?
Statistics concerning the organic are very clear, in Italy – and elsewhere – more families are willing to pay for the consumer product safety of a biological product: healthy, protected, certified, and treatable. Firstly, the business or company that wants to produce biological has to develop a business idea and an approach to the agricultural work.

b) What does bureaucracy impose?
In order to produce Bio, you have to establish a convention with an inspection body recognized by the Ministry. You have to determine the section of the company to address to the organic agriculture, then communicate your intentions to the local authority of competence. In conjunction, you make a notification to the Ministry, via Sian system or the information technology regional system.

c) To who do I have to send the documents?The notification of the activity start, once drafted, must:

1) Be emitted into the web portals (SIAN or regional).
2) Be sent to the local authority of competence, with a stamp duty attached.

Later, the operator must send to the inspection body the following documents according to the activity carried out.

Moreover, all the operators (except for the bees’ producers) must emit in the SIAN or the regional web portals the Annual Production Programme by 30 days from the notification release.

The Inspection Body, once it has received the new notification, will provide to ask to the operator (by means of a PEC to the address indicated inside the notification) the documents above cited, if they are not yet arrived, and the contract, that once undersigned by the operator, must be sent to Ecogruppo:
– via email only if digitally signed;
– via Racc A/R to the following address: Ecogruppo Italia Srl, Via Pietro Mascagni, 79 – 95129 Catania.

We would like to highlight that: the failed sending of the requested documentation and of the signed contract, do not make Ecogruppo Italia able to go on with the certification procedure.

d) My company only makes product storage, what documents do I need to send?
The documentation to send along with the notification issuing are:

Business management plan (take as a reference the one used by the preparers) Download the form

Annual Production Programme to emit inside the SIAN portal or the regional portals

e) I have to make a variation of surfaces/structures in relation to what I had previously communicated in the first notification. What do I have to do?
You must draft a variation notification that will be emitted by the regional or national information systems. Updating also the documentation requested such as: management plan, annual production programme.

f) What is the conversion period?
For the organic and zoo technical companies, the conversion period is the timeframe that be between the notification date and the moment in which the company can entitle with the definition of biological product. During that period, the production methods dictated by the current legislation with regard to organic agriculture have to be applied. The conversion period varies depending on the company production types.

g) How much does it last?
The period varies according to the cultivation typology. Look at the explanatory table for the cultivation typology:

h) Can I use a reduction of the conversion period?
Yes, you can. In the case where the company can prove, via sworn technical report and others documental evidences, not to having used products not-complying with the organic farming methods, for a prior period of at least two years to the data of the notification, it may submit its case to Ecogruppo Italia, that will subsequently proceed with the dossier investigation. A specific inspection verification with annex sampling, then the final report will be sent to the regional authority of competence. This will have the task to grant or not the reduction of the period, setting the date of the conclusion of the conversion period and, subsequently, the beginning of the commercialization of the products with the indication of the organic farming.

a) I’ve completed the register, what do I have to do?
You only have to send a specific request to the Ecogruppo Italia Section of Control, specifying your will to the receive the register. So it would be rapidly sent to the applicant.

b) I need some clarification in order to complete the documents/registers. To who do I have to talk to?
The regional offices or the national headquarter are at your disposal for possible clarifications. Following, you can find the areas of competence:

c) I have adopted online registers, but I have some issues with filling them out. What do I have to do?You can check a specific disclosure (ISL 009) that you can download here

d) What is the inspection about? How it is notified?
It is a text made by the Ecogruppo Italia inspector technicians on the application of the methods of production imposed by the Regulations CE 834/07 and by its following changes and integrations. The inspection can be announced or not. If announced, the owner and/or a formal representative is advised a couple before the inspection, in order to set the time and place of the inspection. In case the owner is not reachable, then the meeting will be arranged with a registered mail or PEC.
The verification activity is planned largely in advance by the drafting of the Annual Plan of Control.

e) How does the control takes place in the company?
The control is divided in two parts: the first phase takes place in the field or in the factory in order to verify the places and the condition of the cultivations, and the production techniques; the second phase aim is instead to verify the documents established by the regulation, and drafted by the operator. The two phases bring to the issuing of an opinion on the operator compliance.
The documents under examination are: the company registers (of the cultivations, of loading and unloading, of the record of the labels, of the products preparation), purchase and/or sales fiscal documents, documents concerning the certification of the purchased and/or sold products, other documents that might have any kind of correlations with the organic production of the company.

a) What are the documents that certificate that my company and products are organic?
The company must prove to be adopting the organic farming methods by showing the following documents released by Ecogruppo Italia.
– Justifying documents: it is the “ID card” of the company, it certifies the addition of the operator in the control system of Ecogruppo Italia, reports the information concerning the company conditions. The conformity certificate, reports the information concerning the nature of the products subject of the certification, it is the “license” that allows the operator to commercialize the company production with the indications to biological.
– The transaction document: it refers to a single product disposal (it refers to a invoice or another fiscal document) and its emission is possible only in the selling of a bulk product between companies operating under organic farming methods;
– Batch certificate for the selling to non-Eu countries: it refers to a single product disposal (it refers to a invoice or another fiscal document) and its emission is possible only in the selling of a product between a community company under organic farming methods and one operating under non-community law, but recognized at a European level.
– Product labels: they are documents authorized by Ecogruppo Italia by the releasing of a specific code and they are utilized for the selling of a packaged product.

b) How can I request a certification document?
You have to send a request to the Ecogruppo Italia Certification Office of Catania, specifying the kind of document needed. For the batch certificate, you have to attach the fiscal documents concerning the selling and a copy of the Conformity Certificate of the purchaser. In the eventuality you must request the labeling, it will be necessary to send to the Certification Office the appropriate request by attaching the draft, in the original colors, of the label you request the authorization for. Bear in mind that the label has to be drafted in compliance with the regulations in force See ISL006

c) What is the time required to obtain a certification?
If everything is correct, then in seven working days the expected document or the integration request of the incomplete or missing documents will be sent to the company address. The possible anticipation of the document related contacts (fax number, e-mail address) must be explicitly indicated in the request.

a) I’ve been penalized, what do I have to do?
The penalization derives from the identification of one or more non-conformities recognized by Ecogruppo Italia.
The same can be distinguished in Non-compliance (slight non conformity), that materialize a formal notice, and a infringement (severe non conformity). They constitute measures adopted by Ecogruppo Italy in the case of proofs of non compliance. The non-compliance can be distinguished according to the anomaly detected. For greater certainty in the table below you can find the different actions that characterize the response of a non-conformity.

In the model MD012 the operator must indicate the “Treatment of non-conformity” and the “Corrective action” adopted.
The treatment constitutes the immediate intervention aimed at solving the non-conformity operating on its effect (for example I haven’t compiled the company register (Non conformity), so I provide for it (Treatment). The corrective action, instead, is aimed at solving the cause that has brought to the Non Conformity in the first place (for example, I’ve used conventional seed, but I haven’t asked for the derogation to the pertinent authority (Non-conformity), I write down a memorandum and I insert in the calendar the deadlines and tasks (Corrective Action).

b) I don’t want to do organic farming anymore, what do I have to do?
You have to send to the local authority of competence via local and/or national computerized portals (sian, sib), and to Ecogruppo Italia, a written communication of the will to withdraw from the commitment previously taken. The letter, signed in original, must be accompanied by a valid ID card.

c) I’ve decided to benefit of the services of another inspection body, what do I have to do?
You have to release via national and/or regional computerized portals, a notification of the variation of the chosen inspectional body, attaching the documents indicated in the section concerning the variation notification. Then, you must send to Ecogruppo Italia a renunciation of , signed in original, indicating the motivations behind the choice and the copy of a valid ID card. We would also like you to fill the following feedback questionnaire reachable at this link.

a) How is the rate calculated and what is included in the service?
The rate originates from the application of the annual tariff import and it is based on: nature of the existing cultivations, relative extension invested, entity and kind of farming. The rate includes all the services supplied by Ecogruppo Italia, including the lab analysis expected by the Annual Plan of Control and the emission of the documents of certification.

b) How can I ask for a quote?
You just need to contact our Administrative Office or send an email to the address amministrazione@ecogruppoitalia.it amministrazione@ecogruppoitalia.it

c) How will I receive the rate and how can I pay for your services?
The cost of the service is notified via post or email to the address you had specified. In the communication, you must also indicate the banking parameter. As a consequence of the payment, the relative invoice will be sent.